Brihat-Saman - Chinmaya Mission Dallas/Fort worth

Gita 10:35
Among hymns I am the 'Brihat-Saman',
Among metres 'Gayatri' am I,
Among months I am parts of December-January (Marga-Shirsha) and ,
Among seasons I am the Flowery Spring.
Cover Illustration: Swetha Neelakanthi, Grade 5

Editor’s Post-it
Hari Om!
Happy Shivaratri and welcome to our Spring 2006 issue of Balazine! The budding
talent of our Balavihar children is showcased in this issue. A rainbow of quality
materials will delight you.
We anchor this issue with verse 35 from chapter 10 of The Bhagavad Gita.
-Balazine Team
Feb, 2006

Seasons
The leaves are falling
The bugs are crawling
It’s autumn I say
It’s autumn today.
Winter’s rolling on its way
To bring us many snowy days
Kids are howling with delight
Cause Santa’s coming down one night
Spring is next I shall say
Flowers blooming everyday
The sun is out to shine again
This is officially winter’s end.
Summer’s heat is back too soon
Mosquitoes humming their buzzing tune
The blistering sun shines its rays
As we long for cooler days
We sit and wait through all this heat
Waiting for Autumn to repeat.
- Maya Sawla, Grade 4
Hawaiian Spring
People like spring because it is a very
beautiful season. Spring gives us many
pleasing sights to the eye. Spring is the
friend of trees, plants, and blooming
flowers. Spring is about flowers, rain, wind &
clouds. I saw all of them in Maui.
The day I left for Maui it was chilly and
wintry in Dallas but when I stepped off the
plane in Maui it felt like spring time. I could
smell fruits and flowers and see clouds and
mist around the mountains.
Maui is a very beautiful place. It has more
than ten beaches. Sometimes women do the
hula on the beach. Hula is a dance when
people shake and move to the music.
Hawaiians think sharks are their gods
because when their ancestors die they take
the form of a shark. Hawaii has many
islands. One of them is Maui.
My trip to Maui is one I will never forget.
Maybe I will actually go there again during
Spring time!
- Aditi Mukund, Grade 3

The Rising Sun
Our class is learning about the Sun, and I
would like to share some stuff with you.
The Sun rises in the east and sets in the
west. The Sun is also a burning ball of gas.
It is so big that it can fit one million
planet earths. All the planets orbit the
Sun. Did you know that the Sun is really a
star? One day it will become a black hole
or a white dwarf. Surya is the Sun god and
Hanumanji’s guru. He rises everyday for
us. Surya is 870.00 miles across his middle.
Surya is 27 million O F in his center
and is 10.800 O F on his surface. Surya can
blind people.
- Varun Anand, Grade 3
Roshan Damodaran, KG
How do you spell “Tournament”?
I am 10 and I go to Jackson Elementary
school. I participated in a spelling bee at our
school on Jan. 25, 2006 and I won! I took
part in it because I thought it would be fun. I
knew I could win and I had to study a 32-page
packet in 4 weeks. It was really hard because
the packet had about 64000 words. I figured
out that the best way to practice is writing
each word while listening to the audio. You
really have to cram yourself.
The event was held at the gym in my school.
Only 4 th and 5 th graders and teachers were
allowed to watch the spelling bee. I was nervous
when the spelling bee started, but I built
confidence as the spelling bee went on. I
stayed calm by remembering that my mom
had said that it didn’t matter if I won or not,
and it just mattered that I have fun. I kept
on saying “I can do it, I can do it!” to myself.
And guess what? I DID it!

What is Spring?
Spring, Spring, Spring don’t you just
wonder what is means?
Pleasant, peaceful winds blow on the
earth.
Roses and blossoms bloom in this
wonderful season.
Isn’t it pleasant to smell the fresh green
grass.
Now its Spring break, imagine how much
fun it is!
Go play outside! It’s the time for it you
know.
Let your heart, thoughts and words
spring with kindness!
Spring Flowers
Spring is when everything starts blooming -
flowers bloom, grass grows, trees grow, birds
lay eggs. Like how flowers bloom, we should
also bloom with love. Love makes people very
happy. When my parents love me I feel very
special. When someone shows love to another
person they also feel very special.
My mommy teaches me how to care about
people. When hurricane Katrina happened, I
cared about the people and I helped the people
by giving a backpack. I also helped Saaket
to collect money. In spring time the flower of
caring needs to start blooming.
We need to respect other people because we
want them to respect us. The Respect flower
needs to start blooming. Then you can feel a
lot of joy in your garden of happiness.
Tanvee Asundi, Grade 1

SPRING MADLIB
Fill in the following blanks with your own
words. Use these words in the same order
to fill in the blanks in the story to make
your own funny spring story
. ___________________
Name of the person
____________________
Verb
____________________
Season
_____________________
Adjective
_____________________
Verb
_____________________
Adjective
______________________
Adjective
______________________
Adverb
______________________
Name of the person
_______________________
Part of body
_______________________
Adjective
_______________________
Name of the person
A Funny Spring Story
_____________ really likes to
Name of the person
____________ when ____________
Verb Season
arrives.
The ____________ flowers
Adjective
___________ out from the
Verb
___________ soil.
Adjective
____________ birds ___________
Adjective Verb
joyfully on a _____________ day.
Adjective
___________ ______________
Adverb Name of the person
lays down in the grass, letting the breeze
blow his _______________ .
Part of body
What a _____________ day for
Adjective
______________ !
Name of the person

What is Summer?
Summer is the time to take off. I get to see if I get to go to the 5 th grade. In summer I
plan get a big chunk of Slokathon done. Second best of all is that you can swim every single
day. And the best part is that parents can’t control you!!! Summer activities take place
mostly outside and inside if it gets too hot like 140 O F.
We need summer because you need time to
take off to recharge your brains, to go to
people’s houses, and enjoy. We also get to go
to camps and meet new friends. We do a little
bit of work like write for Balazine. Summer is
the time to spend with friends and relatives.
Finally we need to work on our comprehension,
history, math, and writing.
– Rohan Asundi, Grade 4

Bharatnatyam
I have been learning Bharatanatyam for the
past 3 months at Chinmaya Mission from
Gowri aunty who is from Tamilnadu (India).
Ms Gowri has been teaching for a very long
time and she likes children a lot. I love her
stories and respect her very much.
Bharatanatyam is the oldest classical dance
form of Tamilnadu. It is known for its
grace, purity, charm and beauty. The
dancer is considered as the worshipper of
the divine.
The name Bharatanatyam = BHAva
(expression) + Raga (music) + TAla (rhythm)
+ Natyam (Dance). The origin of
Bharatanatyam goes back to the Vedas.
Bharata Muni in Natyasastra traces the
origin to Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma
created the fifth Veda called Natyaveda.
He taught this Veda to the great sage
Bharata who wrote Natyasastra.
The music of Bharatanatyam is based on
Carnatic classical music. The instruments
used are veena, flute, mridangam and violin.
The dance is based on aduvu (steps) and
hastamudra (hand gestures). To perform
aduvu, aramandi (bending of the knees ) is
very important.
In Indian mythology, Lord Shiva is
considered as the supreme Lord of dance.
We start our class with a prayer to Lord
Shiva, the sloka is as follows:
Angikam bhuvanam yasya
Vachikam sarva vang mayam
Aharyam chandra taradi
Tam vande satvikam shivam
This means, we bow to Him, the
benevolent One whose limbs are the world,
whose song and poetry are essence of all
language, whose costume is the moon and
the stars.
I also love Bharatanatyam because of its
ability to control the mind, you have to be
in harmony with various actions, the feet
have to keep to the rhythm, hands
express gesture and eye follow the hand
and ears listen to the music thus achieving
concentration.
- Anjana Chowdiah, Grade 1

Should We Be Thankful?
Why should we be thankful? For what should
we be thankful? For what God gave and did
not give? For what we have and what we
don't have? These were the question until
now.
Two weeks ago, on a rainy cold Saturday
Morning, I participated in a walk that was
organized by MDA (Muscular Distrophy
Assoication). Muscular Distrophy affects the
muscles in both legs, arms and parts of the
body. My mom a teacher by profession, has a
student who has that disability and who is
four years old. I went for the walk because
my mom wanted me to come with our family.
When I met the family of her student as we
prepared for the walk, I found them to be so
cheerful and motivated. It seemed like they
had gone for a picnic. The boy Tyus was
friendly and fun loving and seemed to enjoy
his sprinkled doughnut. His parents were
happy and smiling. All around us were
participants in wheel chairs little kids
whizzing around, supporters gathering it
seemed like a mela. The underlying
seriousness of the disease could be seen on
those affected.
During the walk, I led my group for a mile. We
represented Team Tyus. I cheered Tyus as
we walked and encouraged others not to give
up and to keep moving. I helped increase the
morale.
After the walk, my ignorant soul
transformed in to a caring soul. I had
realized, what and why God gave and
did not give. I realized why mom
always says “Look harder the solution
to be happy is there.” We should be
thankful because we were born to
experience life as it is.
What matters is the choices that man
makes and not what he has or does not
have.
-Rakshak Shridhar, Grade 8
Yash Kakadia, Grade 2

Graceful Givers
`
About three months ago, two vivacious
young sisters, Mouna and Dhanya Yalamanchi
(Balavihar students) came together with
a common goal. Both girls had been witnessing
the horrific television accounts of the
deadly hurricane Katrina that struck Central
Gulf Coast. They wanted to do something
to help all the victims, yet, soon realized
there was not much two teenage girls
could do on their own. So, they brought together
an entire community. The final “plan
of action” was a powerful combination of
their talents and their compassion. The
girls organized a dance performance, the
proceeds of which - would aid the Katrina
victims.
For one month the girls performed their
sadhana and trained vigorously in order to
do justice to their art form. Under the tutelage
of their guru Sri Latha Suri of the
Natyanjali School of Dance the girls
learned and perfected 5 items for their
audience. Through this form of devotion,
the girls were able to focus all of their energy
on a single goal.
While training itself was a colossal task,
the girls also had to make sure there would
be an audience to help them raise funds!
The advertising began in early October
2005 as - Mouna and Dhanya spread the
word to all of their friends and family. Impressed
by their passion and compassion,
many tickets were sold and the Katrina vic-
The program took place at the Garland
Plaza Theatre on October 30 th , 2005.
With an audience of over 100 supporters
the girls began their journey and took the
audience on a spiritual experience. Typically
dance programs begin with an item
devoted to Lord Ganesha, the remover of
obstacles. Mouna and Dhanya chose to
perform a Ganesh Kautuvam. Lord Ganesa’s
grace blessed both the girls and their
worthy cause. The dancers had set a goal
to raise $5,000. They not only met their
goal that evening, but exceeded that by
$1,700. This $6,700 was graciously accepted
by the TANTEX (Telugu Association
of North Texas) organization, which
in turn donated it to a Louisiana State
congressman for helping the victims of
hurricane Katrina. .
Reported by Soumya Tayi, Grade 10

Gurudev’s Grace
On Feb 05, 2006, our tenth grade class delivered a performance on stage that was more
musical than usual. My fellow sophomores and I combined a full orchestra to accompany
the singers. Many people said that it was a commendable performance, but were surprised
when they learnt that it was prepared within two weeks. It was Gurudev’s grace
that enabled us to take on such a complicated task fourteen days before executing it
during the assembly at Saaket.
Ananth took charge of composing the musical score and adapting it to each instrument.
He diligently spent hours on this assignment, perfecting the key and pitch for every
stanza. By the following week, all the students were equipped with the music for their
instrument part and this was followed by grueling practice. On February 5 th our presentation
went as planned solely because we had our trust (shraddha) in Him. His glory unfolded
through each one of us that day; making us realize that the success of our performance
was a result of our trust and devotion (bhakti) to Gurudev. We have learned in
Balavihar class that there is a life outside of dot.cOM, but for this performance, shraddha
and bhakti were the kes to success.
Rika Mallepally, Grade 10
SPRING (Acrostic poem)
Spring has come with the sun
People are having all the fun
Rain is falling now and then
In the flowers we all run
Now the kids are in a race
Goodness Gracious they all won!
Abhinav Devalla, Grade 2
Gopal Raman, Grade 1

Pragati
A little over a year ago, I was searching for
a way to help the community, possibly
through some sort of charity project.
That’s when my parents suggested that I do
something that involved helping people in
India. I asked my Balavihar classmates if
they would like to help me. They agreed. We
decided to name the group Pragati which
means “progress” in Hindi. Among many
ideas of how to share our bounty with other
people in India, we narrowed it to two options
- collecting school supplies for children
or clothing for families. After much
deliberation, we settled on a clothing drive
at Saaket.
What none of the members of our group
foresaw was the sheer volume of clothing
that we would receive. After three weeks,
we found that we had over 650 lbs. of
clothing! We were very happy about our success
in getting so much, but our job was only
half done. We met on and off to sort the
clothes into the good, the bad and the ugly.
They were also sorted into mens’, womens’,
girls’, and boys’ clothes, but then summer
came and we all went on our separate ways.
The momentum was lost.
The next challenge was indeed the biggest
impediment - shipping. Unfortunately, the
shipping costs were upwards of $1000, some
even close to $6000! After a few months
of searching, - we struck gold; we found
someone who was willing to ship all 13
boxes. It is such a relief to know that the
clothing has indeed been shipped and is on
its way to India.
After it was all over, we looked back and
examined why our efforts ended up being
such a long toilsome process. Our conclusion
was that we started too big which
made it difficult for us to focus. Shipping
to India is no small feat, especially for a
group of inexperienced teenagers! Added
to that, lack of organized effort and leadership
made our planning inefficient. It
severely disabled the group because Everybody
was waiting for Somebody, and Nobody
ended up doing anything.
Looking ahead to the season spring energizes
us. However, this time around, the
energies (shakti) will have to be balanced.
The iccha shakti, desire, will need to be
honed as we look to the single goal of
sharing our bounty with the needy. The
kriya shakti, action, will need to be focused
as we have to work on our single
goal without distraction. The jnana shakti,
knowledge, will have to be expanded upon
as we research, plan everything out beforehand,
and create structure within our
ranks. When these three energies are
nurtured and balanced, the future success
for Pragati is inevitable. Pragati is now a
leaner, meaner team as we internalize Gurudev’s
advice, “Plan out your work, then
work out your plan.”
Rohan Menon, Grade 10

News Spotlight
Ananth Ram, Grade 10
Science Fair Winner
Anjana Ram recently won First Place in the 6th grade Life Science category of the Robinson science
Fair. Anjana will go on to compete at the district level. Congratulations to Anjana from our
Saaket members!
Kedar and Priya help Plano West secure first place!
Our BV 12 th graders Kedar Bhatia and Priya Gupta secured various prizes at a recent speech tournament
held at SMU. Kedar came in second in the Student Congress Finals while Priya came in
third in the overall category. Saaket members applaud Kedar and Priya!

Grade 3 Speech Contest
Winners!!!
Students in grade 3 participated
in a healthy contest
discussing Hanuman
and his endearing qualities.
All students took part enthusiastically
and made
excellent presentations.
The winners were Aarushi
Agarwal, (1st place);
Amogh Krishnagiri (2nd
place) and Jai Appaji (3rd
place).
Summer Issue
Don't put away those creative
hats just yet; we have an exciting
theme lined up for the summer
issue: "One Sun but many Reflections".
Send us your contributions
(balazine@chinmayasaaket.org)
before May 7th and shine in
Balazine!